1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method of virtual interaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional so-called ‘augmented reality’, a representation of a real environment is combined with (i.e. augmented by) a representation of a virtual environment.
A virtual environment is an environment constructed in a computer; that is to say, a computer-simulated environment which represents a simulation of the real world, a simulation of an imaginary world or combinations of the two. Most virtual environments are primarily visual and possibly audible in nature, and a user of the computer can interact with or move within the virtual environment by operation of the computer's controls. For example, a virtual environment may contain different rooms, through which the user can walk (in a virtual sense, i.e. within the computer simulation) by operating various controls. In each virtual room, the user would see sights (e.g. on a display screen) and/or hear sounds (e.g. via a loudspeaker or headphones) associated with the user's position and orientation in that room. Some virtual environments allow other types of sensory interaction by a user, for example by providing tactile feedback to the user. This is a feature which is common in gaming and medical applications.
Representations of the real environment typically take the form of captured video images, in which case a combined image comprising some or all of the captured video images and some or all of the graphically rendered virtual environment can be displayed. Other representations of the real environment may also be used, such as global positioning system (GPS) information coupled with some knowledge of the real environment (e.g. a map).
Thus in conventional augmented reality systems, a device captures some representation of the real environment (such as a video image, and/or GPS information), and augments that representation with elements of a virtual environment generated by the device. The virtual elements are related to the real environment either with respect to a detected position of the device (e.g. a GPS signal coupled with a map held within the device), and/or by analysis of captured video images to identify features to which the virtual elements can be related.
A variant on augmented reality is so-called ‘virtual reality’; in this case, a graphical representation of a virtual environment is presented without being combined with a representation of the real environment. Therefore in conventional virtual reality systems there is not necessarily a requirement to capture a representation of the real environment.
Accordingly, in the present application, the term “virtual environment” implies a computer-simulated environment which represents a simulation of the real world, an imaginary world or combinations of the two, and which may or may not be augmented by images or other information derived from the real world. “Virtual interaction” implies an interaction taking place within the virtual environment, although of course that interaction may well be initiated or controlled by users (as parties to the interaction) operating controls in the real world.
However, for both augmented reality applications and virtual reality applications, there is scope to improve upon how elements of the virtual environment relate to the real environment, thereby providing further modes of interaction in augmented and virtual reality applications.
It is an object of the present invention to mitigate or alleviate the above problems.